CBNNews.com - Israeli Professor David Newman of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev withdrew from a panel discussion at the Imperial College slated for Tuesday.

The panel discussion at the London-based student union of Imperial College was part of a week-long program titled Political Philosophy Society's Conflict Case-Study week.

Newman withdrew after learning that Azzam Tamimi, director of the London-based Institute of Islamic Political Thought, would be on the panel.

"I am prepared to discuss, dialogue and debate with academics and scholars and even exchange difficult views and questions with people who hold vastly different views to my own, but given Tamimi's public declared support of suicide bombers and his volatile statements at various public events, I do not think this is a person with whom I'm prepared to share a platform," Newman wrote to the organizers of the panel discussion at Imperial College.

In an interview with the BBC in 2004, Tamimi, an avid supporter of the Hamas terror group, called suicide bombing "glorious and honorable" and said that he would be willing to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel.

Israel wasn't the first to steer clear of Tamimi. In 2006, Merrill Lynch refused to sponsor an event at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies because Tamimi was invited to participate.

Last week, in a discussion with Yossi Mekelberg, an Israeli academic residing in London, Tamimi said he is waiting for Israel to disappear from the map. According to Tamimi, Hamas represents the future of the Palestinian people.